The Crowdfunded Musical

Queens of Avalon is Heather’s most ambitious project to date: a King Arthur-themed touring show, concert DVD, and youth educational program. Spanning over two years of work, and involving a cast and crew of talented miscreants, the musical was only possible because of a wildly successful crowdfunding campaign. The Indiegogo campaign included unique rewards like custom fantasy cloaks, recordings of cover songs by any artist, and even Heather promising to marry someone (that is, officiating at their wedding). The fundraising drive ended up catching fire, even getting the attention of the Globe and Mail (one of Canada’s largest newspapers), who called it one of the top crowdfunding campaigns of 2014. In the end, Heather’s fans and supporters contributed over $56,000 to make this dream a reality.

Thanks to the incredibly generous support of her fans, Heather could now get started on the monumental task of creating a DVD musical. After composing and rehearsing the score at S.J. Tucker’s home studio (aka “the Pixie House”) in the forests of Arkansas in early 2015, the musical was shot in Heather’s hometown Toronto that summer. That is, after many months of preparation creating and constructing the costumes, backdrops, and grueling equine stunt training (well, maybe not that last one).

Once shot, the next step was putting together all the footage, including behind-the-scenes footage and interviews, creating the DVD and manufacturing it. After shipping the DVDs and rewards to all the crowdfunders, the film was made available to the general public (that’s you!) on May 1 (May Day!) in 2016. We hope you enjoy it, it’s been a wild ride, but we’re so proud of what we accomplished. It’s only the beginning. The Queens of Avalon tour comes next and we can’t wait to take this show on the road!